The Second Dominion War
by DangerousVermin
Summary: When the 2800 came through the wormhole, neither Captain Kurland or Captain Shon survived. And this Loriss is a lot colder and a lot smarter.
1. Chapter One: The Arrival

**The Second Dominion War**

Written By

Captain Stacy Adams (Ret.) and Captain K'Meiuu M'Rella (Ret.)

 **Chapter 1: The Second Wave**

The First Dominion War ended around 60 years ago, after countless millions were killed, injured, maimed and rendered homeless. I never fought in the war but my mother did. When the Dominion seized Betazed, my mother was on the ground, even though she was supposed to be in space. She was paying a visit to my father, who was planetside. I won't go into details of what they were doing.

The principal assets during the war were Deep Space Nine, Starbase 375 and U.S.S. Defiant, both the first and the second. Some might argue that Captain Sisko was a principal asset, but I beg to differ, but that is neither here nor there. The First Dominion War almost rendered Cardassia Prime uninhabitable and even 40 years later, it still wasn't back to its pre-war state.

The Second Dominion War started around 20 years ago, because of the Bajoran Gods. The Bajoran Wormhole, also known as the Celestial Temple, is inhabited by a race of beings to whom time has no meaning. During the First Dominion War, the Dominion's Second Wave was halted by a heartfelt plea from Captain Sikso. Stardate 89720.57, or February 11, 2412, the wormhole opened, and several hundred Dominion Vessels surged from the Wormhole, during the Peace Talks being held aboard Deep Space Nine, involving the Cardassian, Federation and the Klingon Defense Force, in the hopes of presenting a united front against renewed Borg aggression.

In a single swoop, the Dominion had killed Captain Kurland, Captain Shon, Ambassador S'tass, and taken Deep Space Nine. Rear Admiral Karen Andrews, then a Commander, personally took command of the Defiant and rallied the few remaining Starfleet vessels in what can only be described as a rout. Defiant, Belfast, Fletcher and Bellerphon, from a defense force of around 50 starships, were the only ones in a position to escape. They fled to Bajor, and soon fled to Starbase 375, which was still heavily reinforced from the First Dominion War.

It was Starbase 375 that received the first message from the Dominion. Do I remember it? … Oh yeah.

"Starfleet, my name is Loriss, and I represent the Dominion. This station, and all remaining souls aboard it, are now under our control."

Well, that was it, right there. The call to arms. The beginning of the Second Dominion War. At the time, I was a snot-faced Lieutenant Commander, in command of the Defiant Class U.S.S. John Paul Jones. All the Defiant Class skippers, including myself, were recalled to Utopia Planetia, to be up-armed and armoured. Defiant barely made it out. In 40 years, we'd never bothered to adapt our shields to the phaser polaron of the Dominion Weapons. Why would we, we were at peace. But now? The entire fleet had to have their entire shield assembly changed. And we got the first. Because we had the teeth.

Of course, John Paul Jones was a first block Defiant, and she was showing her age. Myself and our entire crew were transferred to the Akira Class U.S.S. Ajax, I was promoted to Commander and given a small Defiant Squadron; Ajax, Tavistock, Belfast and Dublin. Yeah, I'm sure you know those names. Don't worry, we'll cover them in time.

Our first orders? The complete destruction of Deep Space Nine's sister station, Empok Nor. The bigwigs in charge didn't want the Dominion to have two ready made footholds in this Galaxy. They had, at least, learnt the lessons of the first war.

So, a four ship formation: Fast, heavily armed. All we had to do was get in, beam over a couple dozen torpedoes, and get out. Sounds simple, right? We certainly thought so. And you know, for once, it was that simple.

We drop out of warp, Tavistock and Belfast zoom ahead, and transport their entire complement of photon torpedoes over. Boom. Stations gone. Mission complete. We turned around, we burned deuterium. As Ajax leapt into warp, behind the other three?

A pair of Jem'Hadar battlecruisers dropped from warp. We were ahead of the Dominion by 37 minutes. And I've never been so terrified in my life. To quote the Commander of the Tavistock, I almost shat a kitten. Captain M'Rella. Hell of a friend. She's running the M'Rella shipyards now.

So we get back to Starbase 375, and that's when the news comes over: The Dominion bombarded Bajor. Millions dead. It was their show of resolve, their attempt to bully us into surrendering. Clan M'Rella never forgave the Dominion for the attack on Bajor. Even following the end of the war and the peace talks, they refuse to trade, repair or supply Dominion vessels. You ever punched a human? What happens?

You get punched right back. So that's what Starfleet did. They assembled a fleet… and then disbanded it. It was all on paper. On paper, there were several hundred starships moving towards Starbase 375. In reality? Defiant and Tavistock had been rearmed. And the U.S.S. Gallant had been armed with 4 long range tricobalt warheads. The aim was to destroy Deep Space Nine and remove the foothold. With the level of tech and modularity in Starfleet Construction, we could have another Deep Space Nine up and running in 18 months.

So off the Gallant went, under cloak and radio silent. 3 days at maximum warp, there and back. But it didn't go like that, did it. The Dominion destroyed Gallant almost as soon as she decloaked, but not before they stole the tricobalt weapons. Tricobalt weapons … such a stupid idea. At the idea, it sounded good. We'd never thought that the Dominion would use our own weapons against us. Obviously, this Loriss was bloody smart. A single Jem'Hadar attack ship dropped out of warp, launched the weapons and warped out. 219 ships stationed at Starbase 375, and the starbase itself. 17 ships made it out before the weapons struck. Obviously, Ajax made it. Tavistock. Belfast. Dublin. A couple of Cheyenne Class cruisers, the Cheyenne and the Wyoming, the Challenger, the Sovereign, a couple of Miranda's and the rest were Excelsior Class's, Lakota variant. 17 ships, from a force of over 200. Captain La Forge, being the senior ranked officer among us, took command of the fleet, or what was left of it, to Trill Prime, and Starbase 117, for repairs, rearmament and replenishment.

Command made him an Admiral, and placed him in command of the 17th Fleet, named after the 17 vessels that survived the massacre of Starbase 375. Though, even when our reinforcements arrived, we could really be called a fleet. We went from 17 ships, to 50. And that was all we had for a couple of months, because Starfleet didn't want to pull any forces from the Borg front. Challenger, bolstered by the Yamaguchi, the San Francisco and the Exeter formed the backbone of the fleet, with Ajax, Thunderchild, Spector and the Rabin as the fast attack wing, with me commanding the wing. He might have been a Chief Engineer for most of his career, but Admiral La Forge knew how to use his assets effectively.


	2. Chapter Two: The Battle of Orias III

**Chapter Two: The Battle of Orias III**

After the devastation of Starbase 375, Starfleet Command decided to deploy long range probes to monitor the Dominion force, instead of relying on starships. They couldn't afford to lose any more ships, and probes are easier to manufacture than a full cruiser. It was one of these long range probes, designated 'Strawberry Five' picked up a moderately sized force heading to the Orias System. It was decided at the Admiral level to deploy a counter force. I was given orders to take my wing and punch a hole through whatever defenses exist to allow the Challenger to bring the cruiser wing through and push the Dominion from the system.

Boy, did that go FUBAR.

Apparently, moderately sized force means 25 attack ships, 5 heavy escorts and a battlecruiser. 31 ships in total. I was supposed to make a hole in this line with four Akira Class cruisers. I knew this wasn't going to end well, but well, Starfleet needed a victory. So at 04:00, Ajax, leading Thunderchild, Spector and Rabin departed Starbase 117 and proceeded to Orias III at maximum warp. It took us 8 days to reach Orias III, and by that time, they knew we were coming. We dropped out of warp, and came immediately under fire. Thunderchild went up in a matter of minutes, barely enough time for half the crew to make it to escape pods. We couldn't drop the shields to recover them, and the Dominion just … fired on them. No survivors. We tried. God knows we tried. But we couldn't punch through that line. We told Admiral La Forge to abandon the attack, and we tried to retreat. The burning hulk of the Thunderchild slowly drifting towards the surface of the planet. I don't know if it impacted or not. Even now, no Starfleet ship is allowed to travel to Orias III.

Before we could make it to the edge of the system, we were intercepted. A Jem'Hadar Heavy Escort, flanked by four attack ships cut off our retreat. We had to go through them if we wanted to escape. Rabin and Spector were ordered to engage the two pair of attack ships, while Ajax would engage the Heavy Escort. We opened the engagement by splitting the formation; Rabin ascended, relative to Ajax and Spector descended, trying to pull the two pair of Attack Ships in different directions. Ajax? We just went for it. The two pair of Attack ships broke off and gave us an opening. A full salvo of photon torpedoes on proximity detonation rocked the escort, while Ajax banked hard and soared across their dorsal, phasers cutting into and through their shields. When their shields flickered… I cheated. I ordered an armed photon torpedo beamed to their engine room and we rolled away. We moved off to help Rabin with their group while the pieces of the heavy escort joined Thunderchild. Between Ajax and Rabin, we destroyed the first two pair of attack ships, with the other pair returning to the fleet. With a clear line of sight to the edge of the system, we did the only thing we could do.

We ran. We turned tail and we ran. We dumped our entire complement of photon torpedoes as we accelerated out of the system and we went to maximum warp. In my entire career, I have run from a mission three times. That was the first. My first time commanding a squadron, and we lost a starship and the 250 people aboard her. It doesn't sound much I know, but to me? I felt the weight of each of those people land upon my shoulders. I failed them. It was my fault.

Of course, Command didn't see it that way. I was praised for my 'bravery in the face of adversity' and given a commendation. It was all bull. Starfleet needed a win, and I'd lost another ship, but we'd taken two attack ships and a heavy cruiser with us. It was deemed 'acceptable' by Command. I'm sure Commander Francesca Lyons felt that when she had her ship blown out from under her, that it was 'acceptable.' It's never acceptable.

Of course, we didn't come out that fight unscathed. Ajax had a polaron scar down her port saucer section, Rabin took a torpedo to her hangar deck, fortunately she had no fighters aboard, so no secondary explosions. Spector came through relatively unscathed.

So now, not only did the Dominion control Deep Space Nine, but they'd cut off the southern trade routes. God knows how many civilian freighters captured or destroyed by the Dominion. We'd pick up the distress calls, but we couldn't get to them in time. After a couple of months, they stopped transmitting them. M'Rella took that pretty hard. She knew a couple of the civilian Captains. She and Tavistock used to run convoy protection during the Klingon Conflict. She mobilized once. Took Tavistock and a couple of other Defiants out, under cloak, to try and save a freighter. Only Tavistock came back. I never asked, she never said.

September, 2412. The Dominion had held Deep Space Nine for 7 months, and Orias III for around 5 months. And we'd done nothing, except prevent them from moving into the rest of the Galaxy. Loriss was smart, for a Vorta. She contacted the True Way, and manipulated what remained of the Cardassian Navy to join with the Dominion again. She blamed the destruction of Cardassia Prime on Starfleet. After all, 'If Starfleet had surrendered, would the Dominion have needed to attack Cardassia?' Cardassians, so fickle in their allegiance. The Dominion began to worship Loriss. She was … particularly vicious. When the Breen wouldn't join the Dominion, she had her battlecruiser destroy the northern ice cap of the Breen homeworld. Then, the Breen joined her. Suddenly, instead of fighting against a 600 ship force, we were facing something close to 1,500 ships. We were outnumbered 300 to 1. Our only saving grace was that it would take weeks for all the Dominion's forces to rally together. Time we could use hitting their supply lines. We repeatedly severed the ketracel white line between Orias and Deep Space Nine. The Son'a kept supplying them with it, but we were able to stop most of it reaching them. It wasn't pretty, but it was guerilla warfare.

Starfleet told us to 'hold the line' because there was a ship being constructed that would be the answer to the Jem'Hadar battlecruiser, and then we'd have our own dreadnought. Challenger was recalled to Earth, and replaced with the Venture, fresh from her own refit. Admiral La Forge transferred his flag to the San Francisco. I met the man once, grey before his time. He remembered Captain Picard arguing for the Enterprise-E to be sent to the Dominion Front, to fight on the front lines. Reading up on Picard and the Enterprise-E, I can't help but wish that Picard had been the Emissary, instead of Sisko. We wouldn't have been in this situation, if he had. It was a severe blow to the fleet when Admiral La Forge was killed. It hurt M'Rella more than me. Have you ever seen a Caitian and a human, covered in oil and grease, arguing about the molybdenum ratio used to make the impulse plasma vents smoother? It was … a rather humorous sight, to be honest. I always wondered if M'Rella held a little crush on La Forge. I know I did.

San Francisco, along with Yamaguchi, Ajax and Spector were on a supply mission when Starbase 621 came under attack. 621 was a small science outpost, minimal defensive weapons. They managed to get out a single line of a distress call, and then communications and sensors were being jammed. La Forge ordered us to change course and assist the science post. They hadn't attacked Starbase 621 in the nearly 8 months they'd held Deep Space Nine. We thought it was because it wasn't a threat. We were wrong. They'd taken the science station. Did you know that the Houdini mine can remain cloaked for weeks at a time? By the time we arrived, 621 was completely under the control of the Dominion, and they'd deployed one of their Battleships, along with a battlecruiser squadron, to await our arrival. Oh, it wasn't a trap specifically for us, but it was a trap for Starfleet. As soon as we dropped out of warp, we knew. We had been duped. The Admiral ordered us to turn about and retreat, but the enemy Battleship wouldn't let us escape unscathed. San Francisco took the full brunt of the Dominion attack. The first barrage went straight through her shields, destroyed the navigational deflector and wrecked one of her warp nacelles. San Francisco couldn't warp out. Admiral La Forge placed me in command of the remaining ships and ordered me to 'get his people home safe.' And then, with me ordering Yamaguchi and Spector out of the sector, San Francisco charged the enemy battleship, phasers and torpedoes firing. I tried desperately to get Admiral La Forge to abandon ship, but he was out of range for laser communications, and we were being jammed. I kept Ajax in system, and I saw the Dominion destroy San Francisco's bridge. I saw the hulk of the San Francisco impact the battleship, and I saw them both go up in San Francisco's core breach. Only then, did we retreat. I had to tell the fleet that the Admiral was dead.

Captain Harry Jameson of the Yamaguchi was given a promotion to Admiral. 6 weeks later, Challenger returned, and Admiral Jameson transferred his flag to the Challenger. Yamaguchi was given to his first officer. We'd been at war less than a year, and the first Admiral was already killed. It wouldn't be the last though. Admiral Jameson was a lot more cautious than La Forge. A lot more reserved. I also don't think he was right for the job, but I don't like talking ill of the dead. However, with the destruction of the San Francisco, we were down a heavy cruiser. Starfleet diverted another Sovereign Class, the U.S.S. Ramilies, under the command of Captain Amalei Neraea. It was decided that she would answer to Admiral Jameson as his First Officer. And annoyingly, I was made Second Officer, because of my position as the Commanding Officer of the Fast Attack Wing. With the addition of a Sovereign Class, Admiral Jameson decided to launch a small raid to test the Dominion's response: The attack was to take place on the Vlugta Asteroid Field and the Dilithium fields there. If we could take the mining fields, it would allow Starfleet the opportunity to refuel and replenish the ships with a local source, instead of having to wait for the supply freighters.


	3. Chapter Three: The Battle of Vlugta Mine

**Chapter Three: The Battle of Vlugta Field**

Admiral Jameson was going to lead the attack himself, with Ramilies, Ajax, Rabin and Spector joining him. Intelligence had said that Vlugta was lightly defended, and our long range probes had reported the same. A small cruiser flotilla was the only thing defending the mines, but there was a large power signature coming from a large asteroid. I mean, 40 miles across. It was huge. The plan was to wipe out the cruiser formation and then approach the asteroid carefully, investigate the source of power and find a way to either use it or disable it. Tavistock was going to be deployed on the edge of the belt to keep us informed of any incoming reinforcements. I had a funny feeling about that unknown power signature. I couldn't pin it down, but something was off about it.

Regardless, 3 days after Ramilies arrival, at 06:00, Tavistock departed under cloak to take up a surveillance position on the edge of the field, and informed us that the cruiser squadron appeared to be on a lazy patrol. That doesn't mean that they weren't moving, a lazy patrol refers to the fact that they weren't zigging, they weren't masking themselves, they were just in a basic loop. My bad feeling got worse at that. The Dominion had to know that Vlugta was a huge strategic asset, why would they be lazy patrolling? Admiral Jameson disagreed, and ordered the group to charge in and remove the cruisers before they decided to wake.

Ramillies and Challenger jumped into the area of operations first, and engaged the two Galor Class cruisers. Challenger had been refitted with a much more powerful phaser system, Type 12 I think, and it just tore the Galor apart. And Ramillies… I don't know where Captain Neraea was assigned before the war, but the woman knew how to fight. I led Rabin and Spector in fighting the lone Jem'Hadar Heavy Escort and her fighter wings. It seemed that we caught them on the hop, because the escort didn't even have a CAP up. Ajax opened fire with a full spread of quantum torpedoes, 15 in total, proximity detonation, to rip the enemy vessels apart. Rabin and Spector opened up with phaser and photon torpedo fire, which tore into the hull of the vessel, struck the warp core and completely destroyed the ship. I was still wary, so I pulled Ajax away from the main mine towards the large asteroid and the unknown power signature. Looking back on it now, it's a blatant trap. But at the time, it's in a dilithium mine field. It could have been the power generators for the mining equipment for all I knew.

So we enter orbit of the asteroid and I order my people to begin scanning. SOP. Also a big mistake. They had saturated the asteroid with a vast array of power generators, fusion generators and shuttle warp cores - Probably from the shuttles and runabouts on DS9. We scanned the asteroid, and they all went up. Picture a warp core breach, multiply it by 10, and put an Akira Class 15,000 metres away from it when it explodes. Now, it wasn't the explosion that wrecked the Ajax, though that didn't help. An asteroid chunk, maybe 20 metres long, hit our starboard nacelle. Now, we had shields up, which probably saved the ship, but we still felt it. EPS conduits across the ship exploded, the nacelle was cracked and leaking plasma, and we had to shut the core down to prevent feedback from causing a core breach. That's why they were lazy patrolling. I think they thought they'd get more than one ship with the explosion. And that's when Tavistock decided to add insult to injury: "Tavistock to Challenger… I know this isn't the best time, but… we've got more problems. I've got an extremely large Jem'Hadar signature on sensors… I can't tell clearly through all the debris but I think there's a pair of Galors on her wing." After the battle, back on Starbase 117, Commander M'Rella was incredibly disappointed. When I asked why, she commented that she missed a chance to make a pun. When I asked her to elaborate, she just shrugged and said 'I guess we had … problems Galor.'

[i]Making herself heard for the first time, K'Meiuu can be heard laughing. "I'd forgotten about that…"[/i]

Now, despite the fact that we were heavily out-gunned, Ajax wasn't going to be able to warp for 40 minutes, minimum. Rabin and Spector, I'd already ordered out of the system, but I couldn't order Challenger or Ramillies to leave. Admiral Jameson took the Challenger to meet the Jem'Hadar head on, while Ramillies came to tow us at warp back to Starbase 117. Now, Challenger was a Galaxy Class, but she'd been heavily uparmed during her time at Utopia Planetia. By the time she limped back to 117, she'd taken out two Galors, a Keldon, and a flight of Jem'Hadar fighters. She wasn't going to make a dent against the Jem'Hadar battleship, but she didn't have too. We had survived the battle, but we hadn't managed to secure the dilithium mines. Fortunately for the war effort, Coridan had volunteered to ship three quarters of its monthly harvest to Starbase 117, so we wouldn't be starved of fuel. Admiral Jameson had been knocked unconscious during Challenger's fight, and by the time Challenger arrived, he'd slipped into a coma, due to swelling on the brain. Starbase 117's doctors were confident he'd pull through, but they didn't know when. Captain Neraea took command of the task force, and begun running battle drills and patrols. Ajax had taken a lot of damage during the battle, and wouldn't be battle ready for months. Captain Neraea ordered me to report to Challenger as it's Commanding Officer, stating my knowledge of warfare and my experience in command as the reason when both myself and Challenger's first officer brought up my assignment. With a smirk on her lips, a smirk I'd come to see more as the war progressed, she merely shrugged, stood, and placed a half-pip on my collar. "There, now you're a brevet Captain, Captain Adams. Any further issues?" Well.. what can you say to that? We both shook our heads, looked at each other and walked off to the Challenger. I'm not gonna lie, I was not looking forward to commanding a Galaxy Class. Not at all. Especially not considering that a man I greatly looked up, Admiral Geordi La Forge transferred off her to his death. Maybe I was a little a superstitious, but I wasn't really looking forward to having the same thing happen to me. Bright side, if you can call it that, was that it was only until the Admiral was back on his feet. It made sense, in a way. I was the Second Officer, so with Captain Neraea taking command, I had to step up, and I needed a ship.

It seemed the attack on the Vlugta Mines angered the Dominion, because 19 hours after I took command of Challenger, they arrived in orbit of Betazed, again. I took Challenger, Yamaguchi and the Fast Attack Wing to intercept, try and hold them off. We succeeded, but not before three attack ships crashed into the surface of the planet. Millions dead. Starfleet and the Federation couldn't sustain this. The Klingons were called up, and we were bolstered by 40 Klingon warships, led by Chancellor Martok aboard the Negh'Var. He didn't stay, of course, he retreated to Starbase 24, where most of the co-ordination took place. The Klingons didn't really fit into the 17th, but they followed orders regardless. The Klingons had the idea of attacking a Jem'Hadar planet, that wasn't that well reinforced yet: Lilsis III, 30 light-years from Starbase 117. A year after they'd arrived, we were, perhaps, going to be able to turn the war around and start pushing the Dominion back towards Deep Space Nine.

Even now, in 2435, we don't really know why the Prophets released the 2800 Dominion ships when they did. Maybe we'd gotten complacent in their eyes? Maybe they couldn't hold them anymore. Maybe they just wanted to play a game. Who knows? Without an Emissary, there's no-one to talk to them, and I don't think anyone particularly wants to know. But I don't think the Prophets saw the Dominion bombarding Bajor from orbit. I don't think any of us did.


	4. Chapter Four: The Battle of Lilsis III

**Chapter Four:**

 **The Battle of Lilsis III:**

' _Charge of the Light Brigade'_

 _"_ _Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward." K'meiuu's soft voice is heard, heavy with the pain of lost friends. "All in the valley of Death, rode the six hundred. 'Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!' he said:" There's a weary note to her voice as M'Rella finishes, and for the first time, she sounds old. "Into the valley of Death… [b]we[/b] rode, the six hundred."_

Goddamn Lilsis III. The problem with Lilsis was twofold: One, there were inordinate amounts of tekasite in the system, both on the planets and in orbit on the asteroids orbiting between the planets, and the heavy defense systems that Starfleet had installed to ensure that no-one could harness the tekasite and use it to create an explosive device. In 2373, the Dominion tried to destroy the Bajoran Star. As a result, Starfleet deployed orbital defense systems - an idea taken from the First Dominion War - but they hadn't been calibrated or activated yet. It was why the klingons wanted to attack the planet, before the Dominion could harvest the tekasite or activate the defenses. What no-one knew at the time was that they'd already been activated. A changeling made its way about Starbase 24 and ordered the activation. Of course, we didn't know this, so we made our plans to attack: The Klingon's would approach under cloak, destroy the defense turrets, while Starfleet would handle the ship to ship engagement. Neither of us were really trusting of the other - A year ago, we were at war, after all. Challenger, flanked by Tavistock, Belfast and the Fast Attack Wing would be the first wave, with Ramillies, Yamaguchi, Valley Forge, Majestic-A and Excalibur would be the second wave.

Instead of telling you the battle, I thought I'd show you it. I've had a simulation made, from my perspective, so you can get a bird's eye view, as it were…

 **The simulation opens with Captain Adams sat in the centre raised seat aboard the Challenger, her First Officer to her right. Crew are at their stations, occasionally calling out reports or shifting from one station to the next. The lights aligned vertically on the walls flash and pulse red as the view screen shows the whirling flash of warp speed.**

 **The Ensign manning the helm console turns, just a quarter, before reporting 'Arrival in 15 seconds, Captain.' With those words, the bridge crew seems to straighten, and in the case of the Captain, she does: Back straight, shoulders squared. The viewscreen flashes white as the ship transitions to sublight speeds, and the shields almost immediately flare into life, clinging to the hull of the Challenger as the first level of protection. Around the large Galaxy Class appears two Defiant Class vessels, immediately disappearing again as they cloak, before two Akira Class cruisers crash-transition to sublight, taking up flank positions on Challenger.**

 **'** **All engines, ahead flank. Get us past the asteroid field and get me a tactical-'**

 **Over the ship-to-ship, a voice sounds, cultured and British. Tavistock. "Tavistock to Challenger, I just got swept over by a target painter… I don't think it saw us… say that again, Mr. Zet? Oh shit! Challenger, abort! The defenses are live, I say again, the turrets are armed and live, abort!"**

 **On the bridge of the Challenger, Adams stands, her eyes wide. 'Live? How can they be… Get me Captain K'Tang, we are leaving!' The Bolian manning Challenger's tactical console answers, fear in his voice. 'Captain… the Klingon's are beginning their attack…' On screen, a force of 18 Klingon vessels - K'Vort, B'Rel, K'Tinga Class vessels, led by a K'Tinga Class refit - appear from nothing, swarming and running at the armed defense installations. In a hail of heavy blue phaser fire, the lead vessel, the refit K'Tinga, is torn apart, hull plating peeling from the vessel, the thin neck buckling and snapping, fires erupting from the two halves before exploding in a brilliant white light. The remaining Klingon vessels continue their assault, but are rapidly hemorrhaging ships. On the bridge of the Challenger, Captain Adams orders the viewscreen returned to the tactical display. 'All engines, ahead flank. Target the defense installations, order the Klingons to retreat, inform Ramillies to abandon the second wave and hold position. Transfer auxiliary power to shields and structural integrity. Load quantum torpedoes, maximum yield. Stand by phasers.' There's a soft whine and a growl from the Galaxy Class as they accelerate towards .25c, the Ensign on the helm rapidly tapping his console as he puts the ship through banks, pitches and rolls to avoid the asteroids. The Spector and the Rabin have no such issues, and have already cleared asteroid field, photon torpedoes spitting out at an obscene rate of fire, rigged from proximity detonation in an attempt to jam or block the defense installations targeting systems - to little effect. Tavistock and Belfast decloak, and begin rapid attack runs on the nearest station.**

 **[/b]As the simulation plays, M'Rella's voice is heard again. "Forward, the Light Brigade!" It's half battlecry, half ragged anguish. As she continues to recite the ancient poem, fire briefly returns to her voice. "Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew... Someone had blundered. Ours not to make reply! Ours not to reason why! Ours but to [b]do[/b] and die…" There's a long pause, and the last words of the verse are almost whispered. "Into the valley of Death we rode, the six hundred."[b]**

 **As the simulation continues, it's obvious to the viewer that the Alliance lost this before it even began, but Challenger is still progressing towards the line of battle, quantum torpedoes firing from her launchers as soon as they can be loaded, her massive saucer arrays lancing out orange death at the nearest available targets. The Bolian at the tactical station tries to alert Tavistock, but it's too late: As the Defiant Class cloaks to begin another run, six turrets latch onto her course and fire a stream of blue and orange phaser pulses, which can be seen visibly striking the undefended Tavistock. Hull plating is ripped from her small frame and her shape ripples back into view, smoke, steam and plasma pouring from her frame. With a solid target, the still firing six turrets lock onto Tavistock herself and begin rapid continued fire, punching through her nacelle and her impulse engine, tearing her deflector apart and leaving the little ship a burning, immobile wreck, spinning wildly as the stabilizers are unable to deal with the strain of a single impulse engine. With Tavistock no longer a threat, the turrets move to track what currently is: 4.5 million tonnes of Galaxy Class, burning towards them at full impulse. Two of the turrets closest to Tavistock explode as Challenger expresses her displeasure, while Adams hails Tavistock.**

 **'** **Commander, don't bother moving to escape pods. Have your people gather together and we'll beam you straight off. Tactical, keep our nose to them, drop aft shields.'**

 **"** **Tavistock to Challenger… copy that." The feline's voice is heavy as she strains against the lateral G-force bleeding through the slowly-fading inertial dampeners. "Eject the core and use the last of our power to at least slow this damn spin!"**

 **[/b]" Cannon to right of us. Cannon to left of us, Cannon in front of us." Again K'Meiuu's voice begins to fill with passion. "Volleyed and thundered! Stormed at with shot and shell! Boldly we rode, and well! Into the jaws of Death… Into the mouth of hell…" Again, her voice is a whisper. "We rode, the six hundred."[b]**

 **Before Tavistock's crew can answer M'Rella's orders, they are brought to a sudden, jarring stop as the Challenger grabs them in a tractor beam. One of the few consoles still working, Tavistock's sensor array pings rapidly, announcing the arrival of another ship.**

 **All this is still audible over the open com link as the wrinkled Heirarchy at Tavistock's science console calls out. "Sir! We've got another ship on sensors… it's the Ramiles, she just performed a controlled collapse of her warp bubble about 30 kilometers away… if I were in a fit state to do so, I would compliment their piloting-"**

 **"** **Thank you, Mr. Zet, that will be all." K'Meiuu's tone isn't exactly sharp, but there's still a slight edge to it.**

 **'** **Ramilies to Challenger. Finish up with Tavistock and order Spector and Rabin to begin shepherding the Klingons out of the battle sector. Our orders have changed. Load quantum torpedoes, target the planet, coordinates to follow.'**

 **K'Meiuu is the last one off her ship, only allowing herself to be beamed off once all of her crew are aboard Challenger. With her uniform torn and singed, along with large patches of bare fur where surface cuts have been treated, she steps onto Challenger's bridge. "Where do you need me, Captain?" Her voice sounds rough, as if she's been shouting too much, or breathed in a lot of something noxious.**

 **Challenger's aft shields are brought to full strength and the Galaxy Class moves to form up on its cousin, both Galaxy and Sovereign Class unleashing three quantum torpedoes, impacting the power core on the planet and destroying the microwave power transmitter. The defense stations pause for almost 30 seconds, before they begin firing again, but with greatly reduced power. Adams glances to the Caitian, before motioning to the seat to her left, and the helm console. 'Take your pick, Commander. Ramillies, might I recommend we turn around and burn deuterium. Spector and Rabin have just left the system, and we've got all of Tavistock's crew, including her dead. There's nothing here for us, and we can't take and hold the system with two ships.'**

 **"** **Aye sir." K'Meiuu thinks a moment. Not many of her piloting skills will transfer well to the larger ship, and her reflexes are still wired for the smaller Tavistock, so she takes the left seat, dividing the console's displays into several sections - secondary tactical, security status, engineering, sensors and so forth. "Science, please confirm the readings I'm getting…" She glances over at the Trill standing at the console to the right of the bridge.**

 **At the Trill's nod, she grimaces. "Sir, there's more bad news. We've got a large Dominion fleet coming around from the dark side of the planet… I'm reading multiple large signatures and too many smaller ships to get an accurate count… at a guess I'd say we have a full battlegroup vectoring in on us in a Newtonian slingshot."**

 **[/b]K'Meiuu's voice is quiet, but fierce. "Flashed all our phasers bare, flashed as they burned in air! Phasering the guns there! Charging an army, while all the world wondered.**

 **Plunged in the battery-smoke, right through the line we broke; Jem'Hadar and Dominion, reeled from the phaser stroke." Her next words sound pained, quiet and sombre. "Shattered and sundered… Then we rode back, but not…" A long pause. "Not the six hundred."[b]**

 **'** **Commander, how long until that battlegroup arrives?' Adams wonders, her voice calm, controlled, even in the face of almost certain death. Ramillies has already begun her turn to port, to burn towards the asteroid field and warp out, but Challenger turns to point her nose towards the incoming Dominion vessels.**

 **"** **Six minutes at current speed, sir." K'Meiuu's voice is also calm. She could be reading out sports scores. "Eight if they choose to slow down to get through the debris field."**

 **'** **Excellent. Captain to all hands, evacuate non-combatants to the saucer section, stand by separation. Number One, you'll lead the Saucer back to Starbase 117. Commander M'Rella, how are you at targetting solutions at long range?' Adams calmly asks, even as the red pulsing lights are joined by blue highlights, and personnel begin moving towards the turbolifts, including Adams and M'Rella.**

 **"** **How long-range are we talking about, and with what, exactly?" K'Meiuu raises an eyebrow slightly as she steps into the turbolift and adopts an 'at ease' posture.**

 **'** **Deck 10, Battle Bridge. As part of her refit, Challenger has been equipped with a pair of high yield tricobalt warheads. I need to know if you can get them to detonate within the group of incoming Jem'Hadar vessels. At the very least, I want to take out at least one enemy capital. Can you do it?' Adams turns to face M'Rella, and there's the look of someone who is completely and utterly at ease with herself, shoulders and stance relaxed.**

 **"** **Hm." K'Meiuu thinks a moment. "Not familiar with them myself, but if you can get me the speed and maneuvering ability of those tricobalts, it's vacuum ballistics… I can give it a bloody good go, sir."**

 **'** **You'll have them by the time we arrive on the battle bridge.' Adams steps from the turbolift, and her entire being exudes confidence. She is completely of the belief that her crew - And M'Rella is now part of that - can do what Adams wants them to do. There's a gentle thump as the pair step onto the Battle Bridge as the saucer pulls away, banking hard and accelerating to meet up with Ramillies. 'Helm, plot an intercept course for the centre of the incoming formation, auxiliary power to to forward shields, stand by to shunt power to starboard and aft shields on my order. Commander M'Rella, the tactical station is yours.'**

 **K'Meiuu nods as she sits down, glancing at the other tactical officer. "Keep them off us, please, I'm going to be doing some complicated maths and I won't have time to do much actual shooting until the warheads are away. Give me… thirty seconds."**

 **As she speaks, the Caitian brings up some complex formulas on her screen, and can be heard muttering to herself as she enters in the data.**

 **'** **Tactical, attack pattern Adams-Zulu-Six. Helm, hold this position. Commander M'Rella, as soon as those warheads are away, I need us out of here, so kindly don't waste too much time. I don't think Captain Neraea is going to be happy with me as it is…'**

 **"** **Going as quick as I can."**

 **As M'rella begins her calculations, the short phaser strip on the neck of the Challenger, normally hidden by the saucer, opens fire in a point defence mode, swatting Jem'Hadar fighters out of the black as polaron bursts splash against the Galaxy Class vessel's shields. As the enemy formation enters maximum weapons range, polaron beams lance from the two battle cruisers at the centre of the formation, the majority missing the now much smaller and lighter Challenger, though some do certainly hit, the reinforced shields absorbing the majority of the weapons fire. The forward torpedo launcher spits out glowing balls of white and red death, quantum and photon torpedoes leaping into the black to proximity detonate in a wall between the enemy fleet and the Challenger.**

 **[/b]"Cannon to right of us." K'Meiuu's voice holds passion, a hint of defiance at the odds. "Cannon to left of us. Cannon behind us! Volleyed and thundered; Stormed at with shot and shell. While ship, and hero fell.. We that had fought so well, came through the jaws of Death… Back from the mouth of hell… " K'Meiuu's voice becomes quiet, and sombre. "All that was left of us... left of the six hundred."[b]**

 **"** **...carry the two across, add the square root of the gravitational field and… got it!" The Caitian nods. "Captain, you may fire at will, the torpedoes are armed and delay fuses are set."**

 **'** **How kind of you, Commander, to give me permission on my own ship. Helm, bring us about, course 180 Mk 00, send targeting data to aft gunnery and fire once we have completed our slew to port. Engineering, begin shunting auxiliary to starboard and aft shields. Helm, full military thrust.'**

 **The Galaxy Class slews hard to the left, RCS thrusters firing at maximum thrust as the impulse engine flares brilliantly, accelerating the vessel to .2c. The aft tube spits out two glowing orbs, oscillating between white and blue, on a course directly for the twin enemy capitals. In a rather brilliant explosion, the tricobalts detonate, decimating one of the enemy capitals and crippling the other. As Challenger reunites with her saucer and Ramillies, there's a garbled message on the comm, before a large explosion in the middle of the debris field. Challenger moves off to investigate, discovering the remains of the USS Spector, a large asteroid chunk speared through the bridge module. Following a cursory scan and beam up of the few survivors, Challenger moves off. With careful maneuvering, Challenger clears the Asteroid field, before reconnecting with the saucer section and warping out of the system, back to Starbase 117. Long range probes conducting a battle damage assessment the next day reveal that Tavistock's hulk is on a slowly declining orbit, and is expected to impact Lilsis III within the next 5 decades. Challenger's gambit with the two tricobalts paid off, as there are two burning hulks, one heavily exposed to space, the other slowly making emergency repairs to the outer hull. In a briefing with Captain Neraea, Adams can be seen in the simulation describing it as a pyrrhic victory, for although they destroyed an enemy Capital, they lost two Starfleet ships and 12 Klingon vessels, with almost six hundred Starfleet deaths alone - A rate of attrition they cannot afford to maintain.**

 _"_ _When can their glory fade?" K'Meiuu's voice is quiet, hoarse and sombre as she remembers those who didn't make it, "Oh the wild charge they made! All the world wondered!" A quiet, icy passion enters her voice. "Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade… the noble six hundred!"_

That is the battle of Lilsis III. The pure, unaltered version, not the version that's taught in the Academy as a 'brilliant tactical ploy to destroy an enemy battle group.' It was desperate, on my behalf. And M'Rella lost her ship. Although, there was something that I forgot to mention…

"Commander M'Rella. Starfleet Command have decided to reinforce us, finally. Around 200 vessels are going to be arriving throughout the next month, including a fresh of the assembly line Prometheus Class. Now, she hasn't been named yet, but I … took the liberty of making my suggestion, and Starfleet agreed. When she arrives, you are ordered and required to assume of U.S.S. Tavistock, NCC-92314-A, for duty as her Commanding Officer. Tavistock will not have a multi-vector mode, instead using the additional warp cores to power weapons and shields. There's some other modifications that have been made to her. I'll send you the full list, but Starfleet are referring to her as a Hestia Class. In much the same way that Challenger and the Venture are being referred to as the Challenger Class. Enough of a change made to the original frame to warrant a subclass."

 _"_ _Not as nimble as what I was used to." K'Meiuu chuckles. "But agile enough, once we'd given her a workover. Larger crew, too. It took me forever to learn everyone's more heavily armed."_


	5. Chapter Five: The First Victory

**The Siege of Ferenginar:**

' _End of the Beginning'_

Following the success, though it could hardly be called that, things were quiet. Both our side and the Dominion were fortifying their positions, strengthening their fleets. We'd shown them that we could destroy their capitals with fair ease, and this caused them to pause.

Taking advantage of the lull in combat, Commander M'Rella took the Tavistock out to the Draylon system, an old spaceyard for Starfleet's wrecks. The plan was to run her through her paces, stretch her legs and test her weapons systems, see how she handled. Challenger went with her as an escort, with Rabin out on the edge of the system. Sadly, although I tried, I wasn't authorized to issue Tavistock a cloaking device.

Tavistock's shakedown went smoothly, though Utopia Planetia didn't give her a full load of quantum torpedoes, so we couldn't run those through a full testing phase. But for the most part, Tavistock was combat ready. Just as well, because on our arrival, we'd been called into a meeting with recently promoted Commodore Neraea and Captain Andrews of the Defiant…

"Captain Adams, Commander M'Rella. This is Captain Andrews of the Defiant. Starfleet Intelligence believes that a Dominion Invasion of the Ferengi homeworld is imminent. Now, the Ferengi have their own navy, but not any ships capable of fighting off a Dominion Invasion fleet. To that end, I'm dispatching Challenger, Tavistock, Defiant, Belfast, Rabin, Yamaguchi and the Valley Forge to bolster their forces. In 6 days, Starfleet are going to launch two new vessels, U.S.S. Concord and U.S.S. Enterprise. Concord will be assigned to us, while Enterprise will be stationed at Starbase 24. In 6 days, I will bring Concord and the rest of the fleet to reinforce your position, but you have got to give me those 6 days."

 _"_ _Six days?"_ M'Rella comments, dryly. _"We'll have to stock up on tea, then, won't we?"_

"We'll hold the line, Commodore. You have my words." Adams states, glancing aside to M'Rella, almost disapprovingly. "Any word on who gets _Enterprise_ or _Concord_?"

 _"_ _This far, no further." K'Meiuu agrees. "We'll hold."_

"Captain Andrews is getting centre seat of Concord and … Captain Kim has been given command of the Enterprise."

"Understood, Commodore. Six days. Don't be late. I wouldn't want you to miss the fun."

Standing from around the table, Adams and M'Rella move towards the transporter room, disappearing in a blue light to return to their vessels. Commodore Neraea glances out of the window towards the Challenger, a frown marring her face as the seven ships turn and almost immediately leap into warp.

Here, again, it's probably easier to show you through a simulation…

 **Appearing on the bridge of the Challenger, Adams immediately moves towards the centre seat on her bridge, relaxing into the familiar seat. "Red Alert. Helm, set course for Ferenginar, Maximum Warp. Alert the squadron to follow at maximum warp." Challenger leaps into warp, followed by the rest of the squadron.**

 **"** **Communications, open a channel to the squadron."**

 **"** **Channel open, Captain."**

 **"** **All ships, this is Captain Adams. Our orders are clear. We are to assist the Ferengi Navy in securing their borders against the anticipated Dominion invasion. We have to hold this line for six days. In six days, Commodore Neraea will bring the remainder of the fleet and Starfleet's newest battlecruiser. Six days, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get to work."**

 **Dropping out of warp, the seven-ship formation centres around Challenger as the group moves towards the large Marauder, leading the defense.**

 **"** **Captain, I have Grand Nagus Rom, aboard the F.M.S Profit."**

 **"** **Put him through."**

 **On the view screen is the older, but still recognisable visage of Rom, the lovable brother of Quark, a frown on his face.**

 **"** **Captain. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. As it is, I have 40 ships in system, and 17 more inbound, but you have to understand that Ferenginar doesn't have a military. These vessels have volunteered to defend their home, free of charge. They are not soldiers. I hope you will remember that."**

 **"** **I will, Grand Nagus. In fact, I want your forces in close orbit of the planet. Starfleet will fight them as far away from the planet as possible. Just … be prepared. We may fall."**

 **"** **Let us hope that you don't Captain. Profit, out."**

 **With a soft, barely audible sigh, Adams straightens in her seat. "Helm, bring us to the edge of the system. Have the fleet spread out in a semi-circle,** ** _Challenger_** **at the centre. I want a cruiser at either end of the circle as well.** ** _Yamaguchi_** **to port,** ** _Valley Forge_** **to starboard. Concentrate fire on enemy capitals. Relay to** ** _Defiant_** **and** ** _Belfast_** **to focus on enemy attack ships,** ** _Tavistock_** **and** ** _Rabin_** **to secure against rapid pushes and kamikaze strikes. Execute."**

 **Meanwhile on** ** _Tavistock_** **'s bridge, M'Rella listens to the briefing, nodding in agreement unconsciously as she hears her part in the plan. "Aye sir. We'll make sure nothing gets past."**

 **She turns to her bridge crew. "You heard the Captain. Is everything locked down?" At a confirmation from the security station, she straightens her uniform. "All hands, action stations. Gentlemen, the line is drawn."**

 ** _Challenger_** **moves into the centre of the formation, where the Dominion forces are expected to drop from warp, Defiant and Belfast to her flank, Tavistock and Rabin outside them, and Yamaguchi and Valley Forge closing the semi-circle, stretched out over a region around 100 kilometres long.**

 **"** **... And now we wait…"**

 ** _Tavistock_** **waits in her assigned position, sensors at full gain. M'Rella takes a sip of her tea, then keys her comm. "** ** _Tavistock_** **to** ** _Challenger_** **… do you think I should offer any of the Ferengi defense forces who spot confirmed sneak or flank attackers free upgrades at the family yards? I know they'll be watching our backs anyway, but it might sharpen their senses a little if there's profit in it for them."**

 **"** **Considering if any of us survive this, we'll all need upgrades and repairs? I think you might end up getting swamped with suspected sightings."**

 **The Caitian nods. "True, we'd have to stipulate that it would have to be a confirmed sighting. Maybe if we tell them there's a 10% surcharge on all M'Rella parts and services if they report a false positive."**

 **"** **That offer extend to Starfleet too?" A gruff Tellarite voice growls good-naturedly over the airwaves; Commander Tegh Clokh, on the** ** _Belfast_** **. "Shon left this bucket of bolts seriously lacking in legs. We've got teeth but we're not much faster than stock."**

 **"** **You won't need legs in this war, you'll need teeth. Stand fast, sensor contacts on extreme long range." Adams comments, before straightening as several flashes of light, 8 in all, reveal Jem'Hadar attack ships, which immediately open fire on** ** _Challenger_** **, her shields flaring.**

 **"** **Tactical, fire at will, phasers only."**

 **"** **All hands, man the guns, hold the torpedoes." K'Meiuu orders. "Helm, keep us within our engagement box and engage attack pattern M'Rella One Niner, variant zulu. Do not give their gunners a predictable target. Primary power to weapons, secondary to engines, put anything left into the shields and bring the secondary core online. Leave the tertiary core on standby."**

 **Within the confines of its 100km cubed engagement box,** ** _Tavistock_** **surges forwards and swerves erratically, the gunners firing as and when they have targets, almost daring the Dominion to try and hit them. Spot the former Defiant helmsman…**

 **"** **Mr. Harris." K'Meiuu comments, calmly, leaning slightly in the bleedthrough from the inertial dampeners. "Please do remember that the Prometheus-class is significantly heavier than the Defiant."**

 **The bridge of the** ** _Challenger_** **rocks slightly with the shield impacts multiple polaron strikes, but they hold. There's a soft whine of charging power, and then the saucer array lances out at the closest attack ship, punching through its shields and gutting the ship from bow to stern. Frowning on the bridge, Adams watches as the phasers continue pumping out into the black, scattering the attack ships. "Tactical overlay. Where is the rest of the enemy fleet?"**

 **The combat on** ** _Challenger_** **'s viewscreen is replaced with the tactical overlay of the system, Starfleet vessels indicated by a blue chevron, the Ferengi ships indicated by a green circle, and the scattered enemy by red arrows. As Adams watches the overlay, several larger arrows appear, from the opposite vector, before quickly moving towards the Starfleet vessels. At the same time, the scattered attack ships straighten, and begin truly hammering the Starfleet ships, making quick darting runs in and out of the formation.**

 **"** **It's a pincer…** ** _Tavistock_** **, take** ** _Rabin, Belfast_** **and** ** _Defiant_** **and clear out those attack ships. All weapons use is authorized.** ** _Yamaguchi, Valley Forge,_** **on** ** _Challenger_** **. We're going to meet that pincer head on."**

 **"** **Aye sir." Tavistock immediately moves to** ** _Challenger_** **'s place in the formation, spitting torpedoes from her aft tubes. K'Meiuu watches them go on her console, scowling into her tea. "What I wouldn't do for an MWWS or two…"**

 **"** **Captain, they don't have any Jem'Hadar capitals. I'm picking up two Sarr'Theln's, 2 Chel'Gretts and 4 Keldon Class. It's the Allies. The attack ships must be all the Jem'Hadar were willing to commit."**

 **"** **Careful, sir. Could be another trap."** ** _Tavistock_** **comms to** ** _Challenger._**

 **"** **Or the Jem'Hadar capitals have gone to a different battlefront. Doesn't matter. Let's focus on here."**

 **"** **Aye sir. We'll keep these knaves off your back." M'Rella toasts with her tea. "Good hunting." She signs off with an untranslated Caitian growl - a traditional hunter's farewell. Roughly translated, it means 'Kill well, or die well, my friend'. Some of the sentiment is lost in translation...**

 ** _Challenger_** **soars over the top of** ** _Tavistock_** **, quantum torpedoes already in the black towards the lead enemy Keldon, with the Excelsior-Class** ** _Valley Forge_** **and Ambassador-Class** ** _Yamaguchi_** **forming up on either flank of the larger Galaxy Class, photon torpedoes joining the quantum. Seconds later, the quantums strike the lead Keldon, punching through her shields and striking her hull, exploding across her plate and tearing chunks of the ship. Shortly after, the additional photon torpedoes burrow into the scars made the quantum and detonate, exploding within the ship, pillars of flame chasing crewmen down corridors and immolating them, before reaching the power core. In a brilliant flash of light, the lead Keldon goes up, debris striking the second flank Keldon, leaving her adrift.**

 **On the bridge of** ** _Tavistock_** **, Lt. Zet punches the air, studying his sensor display. "Captain, scratch two Keldon-class vessels. Captain Adams just educated them about this rather entertaining human - I bel-"**

 **"** **Sir Isaac Newton, yes, the deadliest bastard in space." K'Meiuu cuts him off. "Vital information only, please. And don't jump around too much, we don't have any spares for that suit of yours." Unconsciously, she leans with the vessel as the inertial dampeners let some of the forces bleed through. "Helm, do try to maintain safe separation, if it's at all possible?"**

 **Charging through the debris, shields flaring,** ** _Challenger_** **continues her brutal education in proper ship maintenance and Newton's laws, latching a tractor beam onto the third Keldon and just dragging the ship into the fourth, firing a single photon torpedo into the collided hulls to detonate both, while her phasers lance out at the nearest Breen cruiser, setting the primary phaser to rapidly pulse the emitter, punching through the shields of the cruiser and peeling hull plating off the outer hull. Sadly, the Breen ships are much better maintained, and both cruisers open fire on** ** _Challenger_** **, with each of the Sarr'Theln's picking on** ** _Yamaguchi_** **and** ** _Valley Forge_** **respectively.**

 **"** **Computer!" Zet practically explodes from his seat. "Get me footage from the external camera, sector three-niner, enhance and store. Scratch another two Keldons sir."**

 **"** **...another two?" A calm sip of her tea. "She really is rather good at this, isn't she? All hands, brace for impact."**

 **The ship shudders under a barrage of fire from three of the six remaining Jem'hadar ships, raking across the port flank. Several shots slam into her armoured engineering hull, and K'Meiuu frowns.**

 **"** **They scratched the paint." K'Meiuu growls. "I think it's time to show them we're annoyed. Bring the third core online, shunt the power to the shields and auxillary systems."**

 **The Prometheus' warp nacelles glow brighter as the tertiary warp core is woken from its slumber. All across the ship, lights brighten momentarily before the excess power is routed to various systems. Her shields begin to recharge, and the communications array wakes up to full power.**

 **"** **Mr. Zet, you are an information warfare expert, are you not? Ghost the sensors of the remaining attack ships. Aft weapons-"**

 **From the aft tube on** ** _Challenger_** **, three photon torpedoes fire, leaping through the black of space, grazing** ** _Tavistock_** **'s shields and pulverising the three Jem'Hadar attack ships, destroying one and causing the other two to spin off, with the other three moving to tear open** ** _Defiant_** **.**

 **"** **I had them!" K'Meiuu protests, throwing her mug of tea at the screen.**

 **"** ** _Tavistock, Challenger_** **. I trust you've seen that** ** _Defiant_** **has just lost ventral shields. Do I need to return, or are you capable of looking after your squadron?"**

 **"** **I see it,** ** _Belfast_** **'s moving in on them." K'Meiuu comments. After a moment, she makes a snap judgement. "And won't make it in time. Route tertiary warp power to the engines, disengage safeties. Mr. Zet, get to work please.** ** _Belfast_** **, cover** ** _Rabin_** **'s six.** ** _Rabin_** **, if you could take care of the two that** ** _Challenger_** **cleared off me.** ** _Defiant_** **, evasive and come about to one niner six mark two four."**

 **The Heirarchy turns to his console, opening a pocket on his suit and rooting through a collection of iso-chips, each full of nasty things for him to transmit to the Jem'Hadar ships.**

 ** _Tavistock_** **'s forward RCS array flares brightly as it turns towards the venerable** ** _Defiant_** **, the smaller ship ducking and weaving as it vectors towards the big escort. The two ships pass about half kilometer apart, with a combined closing velocity that's an appreciable fraction of C. As soon as she's between** ** _Defiant_** **and the attackers,** ** _Tavistock_** **slews around to port, burning retros hard and letting fly with a full phaser broadside. The hull creaks in protest as the ship completes the 180-degree turn, spitting a full spread from her aft torpedoes before coming to a relatively gentle halt.**

 **The three attack ships are crippled even before the torpedoes are launched. The torpedoes blow them open to space. Fragments bounce gently off** ** _Tavistock_** **'s newly-reinforced shields, which also protect the battered** ** _Defiant_** **from the storm of lethal debris.**

 **"** ** _Defiant_** **is signalling us, sir." Lt. Commander Vol'moss, Tavistock's chief tactical officer reports. "Morse code… thanks for the assist… could do with a guard until we can bring shields up.**

 **"** ** _Tavistock_** **to** ** _Challenger_** **…** ** _Defiant_** **is reading as fairly beaten up. We've got the attackers taken care of, so unless we get further orders we're going to see what we can do to help** ** _Defiant_** **.** ** _Rabin_** **, report to** ** _Challenger_** **for orders.** ** _Belfast_** **, if you'd be a picket for us I'd be delighted"**

 **With** ** _Tavistock_** **taking command of her squadron,** ** _Challenger_** **banks hard to port, RCS thrusters firing to flip the ship on it's side, relative, as a full phaser barrage tears into the port side of the weakened Breen Cruiser, punching through her shields and striking her primary life support, causing atmosphere to vent into space. The heavily wounded Che'Grett quickly peels off, leaping into warp, back towards Deep Space Nine. The two carriers each peel off their current targets and focus fire on the** ** _Challenger_** **, her shields flaring as the larger war cruiser comes under concentrated fire. Even on** ** _Tavistock_** **'s sensors, despite the two to one difference,** ** _Challenger_** **is holding her own. A modification to the tractor beam throws a several hundred tonne piece of Keldon debris towards one of the Sarr'Theln's, which causes the carrier to turn to port… directly into the other Sarr'Theln. Explosions along both ships give** ** _Challenger_** **the time to bring her nose about and unleash a proximity spread of quantum torpedoes, rendering both ships adrift and venting drive plasma.**

 **On her bridge, watching calmly while guarding the** ** _Defiant_** **, K'Meiuu sips tea. "Almost feel sorry for the bastards."**

 **"** ** _Tavistock, Challenger_** **. We've had no contact with the Ferengi, and we certainly aren't out of range. Could be an issue with our comms, due to debris. Try and raise them, please."**

 **"** **Copy that. Mr. Zet, take the main antenna to full gain, please. USS** ** _Tavistock_** **to Ferengi defence forces, do you copy?"**

 **Nothing but static answers** ** _Tavistock_** **'s call, despite the fact that they are still, quite obviously within range. However, while** ** _Tavistock_** **continues to hail them,** ** _Challenger_** **picks up a small Ferengi shuttle desperately trying to find it's way through the debris field. Transporting the occupant aboard,** ** _Challenger_** **soon hails** ** _Tavistock_** **.**

 **** **"** **Commander M'Rella, take command of your squadron and hold this position. The Ferengi forces are engaged with 3 Dominion battlegroups, plus escorts.** ** _Concord_** **should arrive in 16 hours. You have until then to get** ** _Defiant_** **fighting fit.** ** _Challenger_** **, out."**

 **K'Meiuu sets down her tea and nods. "I can send you** ** _Rabin_** **if you need her.** ** _Belfast_** **and I can look after the** ** _Defiant_** **."**

 **With her orders transmitted,** ** _Challenger_** **flares her impulse drive and just bludgeons the debris out of her path, travelling towards the planet, where the orange pulses of phasers and the purple lances of polaron can be seen through magnification.**

 **"** **You are the commander of the Fast Attack Wing, Commander. Do as you think is best.** ** _Challenger_** **, out."**

 ** _Challenger_** **quickly makes her way into the fray, picking a fight with the closest Dominion vessel - a heavy escort - while** ** _Yamaguchi_** **and** ** _Valley Forge_** **, without prompting, push through the formation to flank the F.M.S.** ** _Profit_** **, working to keep the Grand Nagus' vessel clear. Shortly,** ** _Challenger_** **has destroyed the Heavy Escort, and is currently dancing with a Jem'Hadar dreadnought and another Heavy Cruiser.**

 **K'meiuu watches on the screens, engineering teams beaming over to help the** ** _Defiant_** **'s crew make repairs. She frowns. "** ** _Rabin_** **, run a sweep of our vicinity, full sensors. Mr. Zet, what is the status of** ** _Challenger_** **'s shields and hull?"**

 **Zet looks up. "** ** _Challenger_** **'s shields are at 79%, falling slowly, minimal hull damage.** ** _Yamaguchi_** **and** ** _Valley Forge_** **are assisting the Nagus."**

 **K'Meiuu nods. "** ** _Rabin_** **, if** ** _Challenger_** **'s hull drops below 85%, break off and assist her. Until then, watch our backs if you would.** ** _Belfast_** **, maintain picket."**

 ** _Challenger_** **shakes as the heavy escort's core goes critical, her hull getting peppered by debris, striking her armoured flanks and gouging lines in the armour, before being jostled loose. The large cruiser comes about and breaks hard, rolling on her axis, phasers and torpedoes slamming into the underside of the dreadnought. The dreadnought returns fire, a brutal display of firepower that devastates Challenger's shields and punches through her hull, tearing out a chunk of** ** _Challenger_** **'s navigational deflector.**

 **"** **This is Commander Jackson.** ** _Challenger_** **'s hull just pinged at 81 percent. We are breaking formation and moving to assist." The Akira class spins over the top of the** ** _Tavistock_** **before zooming forward into the black. Soon enough,** ** _Rabin_** **arrives on station, torpedoes firing relentlessly from her launches into the side of the dreadnought, buying time for** ** _Challenger_** **to make it's way clear from underneath her and divert auxiliary power to the structural integrity field. Between the two, the Dreadnought is slowly whittled down. However, before her shields have even fallen, all three Dreadnoughts break engagement and warp out, leaving a dozen heavy escorts engaging 29 D'Kora Class and 2 Starfleet vessels.**

 **K'Meiuu nods. "Affirmative,** ** _Rabin_** **. Let her know you're coming." She agrees. "Vol'moss what's the status of the** ** _Defiant_** **?"**

 **From the tactical console, the Andorian shakes her head. "She's repairable… if we had a shipyard and several months. Might be smarter to just scrap her and use the parts to build a new ship."**

 **"** **Agreed. Beam all the crew aboard, put them to use if they want, and tag the location in the database.** ** _Belfast_** **, as soon as** ** _Tavistock'_** **s shields are up, it's time to go see if Adams has left anything for us."**

 ** _Tavistock_** **'s transporters step up a gear, beaming everyone off the** ** _Defiant_** **in three shifts. Her shields ignite, and, with** ** _Belfast_** **on her wing, she burns towards the battle, arriving just as the combined task force finishes of the last attacker.**

 **"** ** _Tavistock_** **to** ** _Challenger. Defiant_** **'s going to need a major shipyard to fight again. All crew are safe."**

 **"** **This is Commander Haroldson. Understood, I'll relay to the Captain. Current orders are - Stand by,** ** _Tavistock_** **, incoming starships."**

 **"** **We see them** ** _Challenger_** **… I'm reading all friendly, but there are two registry codes that aren't in our databases."**

 **"** **U.S.S.** ** _Challenger_** **, this is Captain Kim of the** ** _Enterprise_** **. I see the fight is over already? Commodore Neraea sends her compliments on a job well done. Sadly, she couldn't be here herself. I'll brief you in person later."**

The reason Commodore Neraea hadn't met us aboard _Ramillies_ was that while the Dominion were attacking Ferenginar, they were also attacking Denobula and Starbase 24. Starbase 24 quite handily defeated them, but _Ramillies_ took a small group to hold off the Dominion. They'd succeeded, but _Ramillies_ had been damaged. She was in drydock when _Concord_ and _Enterprise_ arrived, and Captain Kim elected to meet us in person.

We'd saved Ferenginar, but _Defiant_ was going to be sent back to Earth for a major rebuild. She'd be replaced in our lines by the USS _Vigilant_. Commodore Neraea placed Commander M'Rella in formal command of the Fast Attack Wing, comprising _Rabin_ , _Vigiliant_ , _Belfast, Tavistock_ and _Spector-A_. We'd dealt the Dominion a bloody nose, but they'd taken more of us then they'd lost.

We had to find a way to end this before we started sustaining numbers we couldn't maintain.

K'Meiuu's soft voice comments. "Even though it had cost us, though? The victory was much needed morale boost, especially after Lilsis."


End file.
